Thread control for weft replenishing looms



June 6, 1950 G. N. PETERSON THREAD CONTROL FOR WEFT REPLENISHING LOOMSFiled Feb. 25, 1949 INVENTOR GEORGE N. PETERSON ATTORNEY Patented June6, 1950 THREAD. oomnonroiz; REBIJENISHING'LQGMS G'eonge-r N; RetersomGrafton; Masse assigamrztba Gremptbn & Knowles. Loom ltlolzoesrter;Mass, areal-notation of Massaehusetts- Amglication February 23, 1949';Serial No; $75791 5 Claims; (Cl. Lia-$451):

This inventionrelates to thread controls for: weft replenishing loomsand-it is the genera-1' ob-- j'ectof the invention toprovide-simplemeans for preventing the thread of a transferred bobbinfromreentering the magazineandoccupyingapositibrr in which it caninterferewith the next bobhiir to be transferred:

In Weft replenishing looms more" particularly of the multicolor type the-magazine is providedwith yielding supports or' giveways on which" abobbimrests as it awaits transfer. At the time offtrarisfer the" bobbinis moved dowrr from the magazine into theemptyshuttle and" the weftend'Qfthebob'bih, ordinarily held at its outere-ndi to some formofthzreadr holder; moves with the bobbin; Shortly after transient-hefreshly replenished bobbihis picked and there is likelihood'that thethread extendihg-f'romthe thread holder to the shuttiewiil bewhippedback into themagazineand occupy a position where it can interferewith movement of the'next bobbin to-- transfer position; It isanimportant" object of the present invention to provide simple means;preferably-in the form of bristles,- or! abobbin support, so' placed asto= prevent reentry-01"the thread in-to the-magazine;

The yielding bobbin tip supgorts are apart-bythe bobbin tip du-ringatransfer operation and then return to their normal positionpriortogpicking. Iti'sra further object of the invention; tUIIlOl-lfltthe aforesaidbristies on one or both of theyieldingsu'pp'orts' so thatthe bristiesj-wilizmove away from thread restraining" position duringtransfer to permit easydown ward movement of the, weft" in the: bobbinand? thenzreturn to threa'dj rest'r ainingposition beforethe;replenished shuttle-"is picked;

In. some forms; of thread:-controPmeehanism-it? is customary to empi'oyahoolt 0nthe lay-Which: moves the: thread of the freshly: transferredbqboinoverastati'onary'hook ozrtheloom -frame.- If the thread ofthetransferred bobbin" is" too hi'gh-to bereachedby theihooie on the layit will remain inthe magazine 'or shuttleboxandmotbe hooked overthe-stationary hook. Wherrthi'shappens the thread control mechanismssuehas those provided for remova'hof the thread after its is cutz arenot" likely to be' -abl'e toactproper-Iy on thethread: Iti'sra still'further objector the invention to provide-yielding meanssuch as bristleswhi'eh willg keep the thread' in ar relativelylbw-positionaftentransfersozthat itwiii be-with in the path of the hookon the lay. I

With thesean'dmther objeetsinview whibhv-will azppearz'ais thedtseription proceeds; the inventierr 65? suppost I 8 isv limit'efi as'to its forwardi and up? resides: the. combination andarrangement ofpart's hereinafiten' described and set-forth:

In theaocompanyin-g drawmgs; wherein a; con venientem'bod'ifr-r-ientofthedmrention is; set fortht Fig. 1 is a sideeIevation ofpart oi a; weft re-- nienisliing mechanism having theinvention appii'ed thereto, 7

Fig: 2 is an enlarged viewof'the lower partoi the -magazine shown'inFi'gz 1 Fig; 3 is an enlarged plan View ofi'thebobbih tip supports and abobbin tip thereon showin the relation ot -"the weftend of"the-bobbinrelatively t'o the-bristies;

Fig; is an enlarged verticaldetaiiedsection' nectedtothe bobbi-nhuttguiding-and supporting inner-plate M of the magazine and thi's'plat'e' by means' of tie rods f5 supports" the outer or bobbintip-guidingend plate It of the magazine.-

Yi'elding supports are provided for boththe-- butt andthetip'of a bobhihin transfer positionihr the magazine; but since the--ihvention isrelater? more: particularly to the: thread extending fromi the tip thesupgortsfor thebobbih tipbmyare shown: Fig: 2'shows front and-hack"bobbin tip supports or giveaways IFand Hire-- spectiveiy; which aremounted on links I9-- and 20, respectively: Links l-9i's pivoted ononeofthe' tiero-d's l5 and" is actedorr bytorsion spring 21- whiohtends-to-turn it in a counterclockwise-m motion as viewed" i-rr Fig: 2thereby exerting a fbrcetendihgto move-the--front support [-1 rearWardly, or to the right, Fig: 2: A stop -screw 2'2 threaded into thel'inle W engages a forwardly extending fiinger 2 3 orthe support l p'toprovide vertical-adjustment for thesupport' t1"; The-support f l hy itsengagement as at 215 with part of the magazine-mm plate- |=6 is limitedas to re arward and upward motion;

ltn-simiiar mamner the*rear: support l8 i's aoted upon by the torsionspring ZB' on a rear tiered I 5 and acts-tolmove the link 202111 aolockwiseidi motion; thereby moving thebaohsupport I 8'for-- wardiyrorto the lett as viewedfin Eigz 2. Stop, screw 28 si'm-il'an to: stop:screw 22 andi'. the real:

Ward movement by engagement with the end plate 16 as at 21. The adjacentends of the supports I! and I8 are spaced from each other and definebetween them a vertically extending thread passage 28, see Figs. 2 and3.

The magazine has provision for storage of several stacks of bobbins andalso has means for releasing the bobbins from their respective stacks sothat they can move to a transfer position. The stacks of bobbins andreleasing means are not shown in the drawings, but will be as usual. InFig. 2 a bobbin T is shown in transfer position. When in this positionthe bobbin tip will be supported by the front and back supports [1 andI8 and the weft end or thread W connected to the yarn on the bobbin willextend through or above the passage or thread slot 28. The weft thread Wleads outwardly from the magazine to a thread holder designatedgenerally at H, see Fig. 5.

' The thread holder is preferably though not necessarily of thepneumatic type. It may be similar to thread holders used in a well-knowntype of two-color weft replenishing loom having a reciprocating pumpwhich periodically creates subatmospheric pressures within the intake.iouth 32 of the holder. The holder may, on the other hand, be made asshown in Patent No. 2,431,556 and be associated with a continuouslyrunning pump and controlled so that the intake mouth is openperiodically. In either event the weft ends of the bobbins in themagazine and also the weft end of a bobbin T in the transfer positionwill lead to the thread holder and the latter will exert a slighttension on the thread.

The lay 35 of the loom is provided with a shuttle box 36 in which islocated a shuttle S. The shuttle box includes in its construction aforwardly and upwardly extending hook 37, and a second hook 38 issecured in fixed position to some part of the loom.

Ordinarily there is no bobbin on the supports 7 and ill, but when a weftreplenishing operation is to occur a bobbin moves in well-known mannerto the transfer position with its tip resting on the tip of the supportsl! and i8, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. As the lay beats up thetransferrer arm ll descends and pushes the bobbin out of the magazineinto the shuttle S, and in doing so effects a, lowering of the thread orweft end W of the bobbin being transferred. During transfer the bobbintip spreads the supports I1 and l 8 apart, but they immediately returnto the position shown in Fig. 2 before the replenished shuttle ispicked.

The matter thus far described is of common construction and may beconstructed as set forth for instance in Patent No. 1,030,748. Thesupports I! and 18 are shown as one of several forms of bobbin tipsupports, and the invention is not limited in its use to the preciseform of supports shown herein.

In carrying the present invention into effect, a thread restrainingmeans is provided which will prevent the thread of the transferredbobbin from returning upwardly through the passage 23 into the magazine.As shown herein this restraining means, designated generally at 40,takes the form of a plurality of flexible resilient bristles BI whichare mounted on the front bobbin tip support H and extend across thepassage 28 as shown'in the lower part of Fig. 2. The bristles may beheld by a clip 42 fixed to the support I! by a screw 43. The bristlesare preferably on the outside of the magazine where they will be out ofthe path of the bobbin tip 30 during bobbin transfer. The bristles arealso preferably located between the thread holder and the thread passageor gap 28, although this relationship is not essential.

During a bobbin transferring operation the supports l1 and 18 will moveapart so that passage 28 is widened temporarily and there will be arelative forward movement of the bristles with respect to the rearsupport [8. Because of this movement the bristles will not extend quiteas far beyond support l8 as they normally do, and the thread W as itmoves down with the bobbin will be able to bend the bristles downwardlyand move from the dotted line position to the full line position shownin Fig. 5. Movement of the bristles by the thread will be due in part bythe fact that the bristles are moved bodily in a direction away fromtheir normal restraining position, and also in part due to the fact thatthe bristles are resilient and the thread is. kept under tension by theholder H.

This action occurs at the time of bobbin trans fer, and the supports I!and I8 thereafter immediately return to their normal position, whereuponthe bristles are restored to the position shown in Fig. 2 where they lieacross the path of the weft thread W should the latter try to move backinto the magazine by upward movement through the passage 28. As theshuttle is picked the thread W may be whipped upwardly, but the bristleswill prevent it from entering passage 28. Also, the thread will extendfrom the bristles to the left, Fig. 5, and be in the path of hook 31 tobe placed by it on hook 38 on the next lazy beat-up, at which time thethread will become attached to the selvage of the cloth C.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the invention sets forth simplemeans which effective ly prevents return of the weft of a transferredbobbin into the magazine. This means may take the form of flexiblebristles mounted on one of the yielding or giveway supports for thebobin tip and is preferably located between the thread passage 28 andthe holder H, although this par ticular location is not essential in allforms of the invention. When the bristles are located as shown in Fig.3, for instance, they are out of the path of the downwardly movingbobbin tip and will therefore not be damaged by it during transferoperation. The fact that the thread holder tensions the weft end assiststhe latter to deflect the bristles when the bobbin is transferred,especially in view of the fact that the bristles are close to the tip ofthe bobbin. The tendency of the thread to whip up through the passage 28occurs when the shuttle is being picked and the bobbin tip has movedaway from the bristles. The bend in the thread at this time produced bythe underside of the bristles is much less than the bend produced by thetop side of the bristles at transfer, and the bristles are better ableto withstand the tension of the thread. Spreading of the supports l1 andI8 at bobbin transfer moves the bristles away from their normalrestraining position and assists the thread to move to a position belowthe bristles. Also, the bristles are at such an elevation that withoutrespect to the height of the thread holder the thread W of the incomingbobbin will not only be prevented from reentering the magazinmbut willalso be held within the range of motion of the movable hook 31.

' Having thus described the invention it will be seen that changes andmodifications of the forer going specific disclosure may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed as new is:

1. In a weft replenishing loom having a thread holder tensioning theweft end extending from the tip of a bobbin in a reserve bobbinmagazine, bobbin tip support means on the magazine defining a threadpassage through which said weft end passes downwardly when the bobbin istransferred, and flexible resilient means mounted on said bobbin supportmeans extending across said passage yielding to permit downward movementof the weft end and effective to prevent upward movement of the weftinto said passage subsequent to transfer of the bobbin.

2. In a weft replenishing loom having a reserve bobbin magazine and athread holder tensioning the weft end of a bobbin in transfer positionin a magazine, resiliently mounted bobbin tip support means defining a,passage for the weft end normally in bobbin tip supporting position butmoved by the bobbin tip when the bobbin is transferred, and flexibleresilient means on said bobbin support means moved with respect to saidpassage when the support means is moved by the bobbin when the latter isbeing transferred to facilitate downward movement of the weft end, saidflexible resilient means being normally positioned by the bobbin tipsupport means to limit upward movement of the weft end into said passagesubsequent to bobbin transfer.

3. In a Weft replenishing loom having a thread holder tensioning theweft end extending from the tip of a bobbin in a reserve bobbinmagazine; bobbin tip support means on the magazine defining a threadpassage through which said weft end passes downwardly when the bobbin istransferred, and flexible resilient means mounted on said bobbin supportmeans between the thread holder and support means extending across saidpassage and yielding to permit downward movement of the weft end andeffective to prevent upward movement of the weft end into said passagesubsequent to transfer of the bobbin.

4. In a weft replenishing loom having a thread holder tensioning theweft end extending from the tip of a bobbin in a reserve bobbinmagazine, a pair of bobbin tip supports resiliently mounted on themagazine and normally in bobbin tip supporting position and definingbetween them a thread passage through which the weft end of the bobbinpasses incident to transfer of the bobbin, and flexible bristles on oneof said supports normally preventing theweft end from moving back intosaid passage subsequent to transfer of the bobbin.

5. In a weft replenishing loom having a reserve bobbin magazine, bobbintip supports resiliently mounted and normally in position to support abobbin tip, said supports being spaced to define a thread passagetherebetween, bristles mounted on one of said supports out of the pathof the bobbin tip when the latter is transferred, said one support whenin normal position 10- cating the bristles in the normal positionthereof across said passage, said one support being moved by the bobbintip incident to bobbin transfer and moving the bristles away from thenormal position thereof to facilitate downward movement of the weft endin said passage, and said one support subsequent to transfer returningto normal position to return the bristles to the normal position thereofto prevent upward movement of the weft end of the transferred bobbininto said passage.

GEORGE N. PETERSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,552,025 Bailey Sept. 1, 19251,826,298 Bergstrom Oct. 6, 1931 2,335,534 Reynolds Nov. 30, 19432,387,122 Darwin Oct. 16, 1945

